


Avengers Reassemble

by ElectricBlueLilies



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, I had a lot of feelings and needed them to all hug each other, Multi, infinity war fix it, post: infinity war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-09 02:55:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14707790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElectricBlueLilies/pseuds/ElectricBlueLilies
Summary: Tony returns to Earth, terrified of what he may find.





	Avengers Reassemble

**Author's Note:**

> infinity war spoilers ahead if you couldn't guess
> 
> all credit for characters and infinity war belongs to Marvel

“Where are we landing?” Nebula asked Tony from the pilot’s chair of her ship. They had managed to repair it back on Titan and were now on course towards Earth. Tony had to convince her to go there first before going after Thanos. He told her if they wanted any chance at stopping him they needed to assemble a team. That was true, but all Tony really needed right now was confirmation. Confirmation that his worst fears had been realized, that he was the only one left. He needed to see for himself.

 

Tony knew Thanos’ plan. Bruce’s words echoed in his head, _he wipes out half the population._

_Half._

 

That’s what Bruce had told them, but seven people had fought Thanos on Titan and only two of them were on this ship. Tony wondered if he was really the only survivor. He didn’t know what Nebula was. She seemed to be at least part machine. Maybe whatever Thanos did wouldn’t have affected her anyway. Maybe everyone else was gone.

 

Tony thought of Vision. _Was it possible he survived? That they got the mind stone out and he was unaffected by Thanos’ massacre?_ It didn’t bring Tony much comfort, him, Vision, and this blue alien robot bearing all the weight of the world on their shoulders.

 

“We’re approaching your planet,” Nebula interrupted his thoughts. “I need a location.”

 

“Give me a minute.” Tony brought up the mask of his suit and waited for the heads up display to flicker on.

 

“Friday, is anyone still at the Avengers’ facility?” Tony waited as Friday brought up an aerial view of the facility. He waited for labelled dots to show up as survivors were identified. The screen didn’t change.

 

“I could not identify anyone in the facility, sir,” Friday’s neutral tone informed him. He hunched further forward in his seat. He couldn’t seem to stop his leg bouncing. He put a hand on his knee, but his hands weren't steady either.

 

“There has to be someone, Friday. Find me anyone.” Tony’s breaths came in short bursts. Memories of New York, of Pepper nearly dying, of the pile of bodies Wanda showed him the one time she got into his head clouded his thoughts.

 

“Who would you like me to find, sir?” Friday politely asked. Tony’s vision started to darken around the edges.

 

“The Avengers, the team.” He was getting desperate. He took in a sudden breath as an idea dawned on him.

 

“Rhodey. Track his suit.”

 

“Tracking him now, sir.” The display changed. A map of the world zoomed in on Africa, then Wakanda, then closer. Coordinates showed up on the screen. Tony was already standing up. “Here is the location of Colonel Rhodes’ suit. The suit is not currently in use.”

 

Tony pulled down his helmet immediately. He would see what he saw when he got there. He couldn’t afford to think too much about it right now.

 

***

 

“Incoming ship!” Shuri called out. Some of the Avengers were gathered in her lab with a few Wakandan leaders. It had been three days since the battle. Survivors had been counted. Bodies had been buried. Everyone was still at a loss. There was no plan, no contingencies for something like this. And now the fight may not even be over.

 

Shuri pulled up a large screen showing the ship as everyone circled around her. It was only a black dot in the sky, but it was approaching fast. She enhanced the image.

 

“Can you tell what it is?” Steve asked, leaning forward and squinting at the screen.

 

“It doesn’t look like the ones that attacked us.” Bruce commented as he slid on his reading glasses.

 

“Wait until we know what it is before you take action,” Okoye told Shuri as she placed a hand on her shoulder. In absence of the king, Okoye had stepped up as a leader.

 

“If they crash into the barrier, we won’t have to,” M’baku commented.

 

Shuri swiped a hand over the screen rotating the image to find a new angle. She typed out a few equations on the projected keyboard in front of her.

 

“It won’t,” She informed them, drawing an arched pathway on the screen ending just outside the barrier.

 

Everyone watched as the ship followed Shuri’s line perfectly, crashing a few hundred feet from the barrier and sliding the rest of the way, stopping just before hitting it. Shuri enhanced the image again.

 

Smoke billowed from the ship. The back opened. A blue figured emerged. Another figured followed, stumbling forward. Shuri enhanced the image again.

 

Steve took off running first. Everyone else took a few seconds longer to process before they hurried to follow.

 

***

 

Tony leaned heavily into Nebula, clutching his injured side. One of the ship’s engines appeared to be on fire behind them. If his calculations were right, they were just outside of Wakanda’s hidden city.

 

Tony saw a shimmer of Wakanda’s barrier as a section opened. Under any other circumstances, he would ask a million questions, but he was exhausted and there was no one around for him to ask.

 

Beyond the barrier, Tony saw green fields and a city skyline in the distance. The sun was setting around them. Pinks, oranges, and purples swirled in the sky, somehow more vibrant inside Wakanda. Tony wondered absently about the reflective properties of the barrier and if it influenced the color.

 

Tony tapped twice at center of his chest and his nanosuit quickly folded itself back in, leaving him in the jogging clothes he’d been wearing, walking through the park with Pepper, before this all started. 

 

Tony’s eyeline lowered when he spotted movement in the fields in front of them. When Tony saw Steve sprinting towards them, he let out a short laugh that sounded almost psychotic to his ears. He thought, _of course Captain America is still alive_. He thought, _thank fuck he’s still alive._

 

Steve reached them, stopping a few feet away from Tony. Steve’s expression was awed, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Tony certainly couldn’t. They stayed staring at each other for a moment, taking in the reality that one more person than they thought was still alive.

 

“Are we…” Tony cleared his throat when his voice broke, but his voice was still hoarse and pained when he continued. “Are we the only…”

 

“No.” Steve took a step forward as he interrupted. Tony pushed away from Nebula to do the same. He felt the slightest flame of renewed hope flickering inside him.

 

“We lost a lot of people,” Steve continued, eyes sad and tired as he tried to play the role of Captain. “But we still… there’s still…” He couldn’t finish. Tears streamed freely down Steve’s cheeks. Tony had never seen him like this. He could usually count on Cap for rousing speeches about resolve and hope, but Tony could imagine, didn’t have to imagine, the weight Steve was carrying. It broke something inside Tony. He hadn’t realized he had anything left to break.

 

Tony stumbled forward and collapsed into Steve’s arms. Steve caught him, but couldn’t find the will to keep them both standing. He lowered them to the ground, kneeling in the dirt, clutching desperately to each other.

 

Their past fights felt like someone else’s memories. Tony felt like he wasn’t the same person after everything that had happened. When the Avengers broke up, it felt like his whole world was collapsing. He hadn’t realized how much more could be at stake, how much more he still had to lose.

 

“I’m sorry.” He whispered hoarsely.

 

Steve’s grip on him tightened almost painfully, but Tony welcomed the distraction, welcomed any feeling that wasn’t the crushing grief hanging over him, suffocating him.

 

“I’m sorry, too.” Steve whispered back, balling his fists into the back of Tony’s sweatshirt and pressing his forehead into Tony’s shoulder.

 

Tony jumped slightly when he felt another presence seemingly appear out of nowhere at their side. He looked up to see Natasha, her face carefully blank, her eyes red and puffy. She dropped quietly to her knees, leaned her head against Steve’s, and wrapped her arms around both of them.

 

The relief Tony felt was overwhelming as it sunk in that the weight of the world wasn’t on his shoulders alone. He had people to share his burden, to share his grief, to share, perhaps, his budding hope.

 

Another person arrived, barreling towards them with much less stealth than Natasha. Bruce stopped beside them, trying to catch his breath. Tony’s heart filled further at the sight of his friend. His chest ached with grief, but he hadn’t lost everyone. Tony lifted one arm away from Steve and opened it toward Bruce, who collapsed into the fold.

 

“I didn’t think you were going to make it back,” Bruce confessed quietly.

 

“Neither did I,” Tony said as he pulled his friend in closer.

 

They stayed huddled together for a long moment, allowing the weight of what happened to fully settle on them now that they had the support to bear it. They broke apart at the sound of Thor landing, loudly, brashly, on a crack of lighting. Tony laughed, for real, and in relief. Thor looked different, with short hair and an axe which he immediately dropped to the ground. He also looked more shaken then Tony had ever seen him. They all started to slowly stand as Thor approached. Thor took two large strides and pulled Tony into a crushing hug.

 

“We’ve all lost too much,” Thor began, stepping back with his hands on Tony’s shoulders. “I’m glad we didn’t lose you, too.” Thor’s relief seemed genuine, but the smile he gave Tony was pained and tired. Tony understood. He placed a hand on Thor’s forearm and gave him a reassuring squeeze and a nod.

 

Suddenly, the War Machine suit landed loudly beside them. Thor pulled away with a nod and a pat on Tony’s shoulder. The suit opened, and Tony breathed a sigh of relief when Rhodey stepped out. Tony pulled him into a tight hug before he took another step. Tony started shaking again, maybe he never stopped. He wasn’t sure.

 

“I got you. You’re good, man. You’re safe.” Rhodey put his hands on Tony’s sides, steadying him the way Tony had for him so many times since his injury, his robotic leg supports keeping them both upright.

 

They all turned at the sound of Steve’s voice. He was trying to get the attention of Nebula, who had turned back to her ship and had already managed to put out the fire.

 

“Thank you,” Steve reached out a hand, “for bringing him back to us.”

 

“He fought with me against Thanos on Titan,” Nebula said by way of explanation, turning back to a damaged part she was repairing on her ship. Steve nodded and awkwardly dropped his hand, settling his hands on his belt instead.

 

“So, what’s the plan, Captain?” Tony asked, as Steve turned back to the group.

 

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Steve sighed. “I don’t have a plan.”

 

Tony looked around at this group of people, this team, _this family_. They had been beaten and broken, but they were alive and they were here.

 

“I’m sure we can figure something out,” Tony said.

 

“How?” Steve asked. Tony couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face.

 

“Together.”

**Author's Note:**

> I’m [ElectricBlueLilies](http://electricbluelilies.tumblr.com/) on tumblr if you’re interested. Tell me your Marvel headcanons and cry about infinity war with me.


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